


Spanish Wine

by InTheWind



Series: Living [1]
Category: Code Black (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-03
Updated: 2016-01-03
Packaged: 2018-05-11 12:41:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5627038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InTheWind/pseuds/InTheWind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>All I want to do tonight is drink you like a Spanish wine...</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spanish Wine

Nobody liked hospital fundraisers.

Leanne was certainly no exception—she always felt like a showdog being trotted out and made to perform tricks for the wealthy donors who wanted credit for the lives she and her colleagues saved every day. Still, she had to admit that it was fun to put on a pair of heels for once and go somewhere for dinner that didn't have a drive-thru window.

But she didn't have to admit it  _ out loud _ .

“I can't believe they think we have nothing better to do with our night off than eat rubber chicken with all our co-workers,” she groused to Jesse and Neal.

“You _don't_ have anything better to do,” Jesse pointed out.

“Watching paint dry would be better than hanging out here looking at your ugly mug all night.”

“Listen to you talk,” he retorted. “That dress makes you look like you should be working a pole, not a prescription pad.”

Leanne struggled to suppress her laughter as she prepared to get out her next barb, but Neal looked around with a pained expression at the sea of grey-faced men in suits that surrounded them. “Enough, guys,” he said. “Do you really want to explain to all these kiddies why Mama and Daddy are fighting?”

“None of these people are paying attention to us,” Leanne said dismissively. “At least not until Gina drags somebody else over here to talk up what big damn heroes we all are, and she hasn't done that for a good twenty minutes. How long do you think we have to be here, anyway?”

Across the room, Cole was wondering the same thing. He'd been watching Leanne since she walked in, admiring the way her hair flowed in waves past her shoulders and her burgundy dress dipped just low enough to tease at what was underneath. The truth was, he'd been watching her for a lot longer than one night. Their relationship had been cordial but professional since she'd kissed him in the locker room weeks ago. He wasn't sure if she'd been busy or gotten cold feet or if she had simply lost interest, but tonight seemed like the perfect opportunity to find out.

Finally, he saw his chance as she left Neal and Jesse to get a refill from the open bar. He sidled up next to her, trying his best to seem casually aloof. “You look like you're having about as much fun as I am,” he commented.

“Oh, it doesn't get interesting until after midnight,” Leanne replied. “That's when Mark used to jump on a table and do his strip tease to _Don't Fear the Reaper_. Honestly, I don't know how Gina's gonna follow that act.”

“Yeah, that'll be a tough one,” Cole nodded, looking around as though he were seriously considering the situation. Almost conspiratorially, he leaned in close to her and asked, “Do you really want to stick around long enough to find out?”

This piqued Leanne's interest. “Do you have a better idea?”

“I know a place. Good music. Great wine. Real Vino de Pago, not this grape juice they're feeding us,” he added, pointing to her newly-full glass.

“Alright,” Leanne said, leaving her 'grape juice' untouched on the bar. “Let's go.”

She followed him toward the exit, winding their way through hospital administrators and benefactors. Jesse caught her eye from across the room and raised an eyebrow; she knew there'd be no end to the amount of crap he'd give her for this, but hell, hadn't he been the one to insist that she needed to start living? She was only taking his advice. With an almost imperceptible nod, she waved him off and followed Cole outside.

It was a clear night, so they walked for a few blocks in near silence before Cole ushered her toward a plain, unassuming storefront. He hurried ahead to open the door for her; she reflexively whispered a thank you as she passed through, but her breath caught in her throat when she saw the inside.

“Not exactly the hospital cafeteria, is it?” Cole asked.

Leanne was genuinely impressed. She'd expected to be overdressed for a bar, but instead she felt dowright shabby; this was more like a four-star restaurant than a watering hole. Just as she was wondering how on earth they were going to get in without a reservation, the maître d' led them to a pair of stools at the end of the bar.

“This was the best I could do on short notice,” Cole explained.

“I'm amazed you got us in here at all,” Leanne replied. Her eyes wandered past the wrought iron railing enclosing the second floor to the pianist playing unobtrusively in the corner.

“Let's just call it friends in high places,” he said. “Now, how about that wine?”

After a lengthy discussion with the bartender he ordered them a bottle of something Leanne couldn't pronounce, but that the bartender assured them was an excellent choice.

“Where did you learn so much about wine?” she asked after the cork had been sniffed and the first glasses had been poured.

“I studied in Valencia, Spain as an undergrad,” he told her. “My host family ran a small vineyard; they loved to talk shop. I go back every so often, when I have the chance.”

Leanne sat back and sipped her wine, almost studying him.

“What?” he asked. “That surprises you?”

“It does,” she admitted. “I guess I had you pegged as the ambitious type—you know, the kind to go straight from high school to pre-med to med school without stopping to take a breath.”

Cole laughed. “I can't say you were exactly wrong. It was a summer semester; I didn't have to take time away for it. I probably wouldn't have gone otherwise.”

“I'm glad for you, that you had the chance,” Leanne said. “I've always wanted to see Spain. It sounds beautiful.”

“It is,” he agreed. “You've never been?”

Leanne shook her head, smiling wistfully. “I married my husband sophomore year of college. We'd been high school sweethearts and just couldn't wait until graduation—we were young, dumb, and broke, but we were convinced we'd have time to see the world later. He worked his ass off to put me through med school, and then the kids came along, and...” She let her sentence trail off with a shrug, suddenly embarrassed by the intensity of his gaze. “I'm sorry,” she said. “I guess I don't know how to have a conversation anymore without being a total downer.”

He reached out, lightly covering her hand with his. “Don't apologize. I brought you here because I want to get to know you, Leanne. Good, bad, indifferent—anything you want to tell me, I want to hear.”

She wasn't sure why, but she believed him.

An hour passed, maybe two. Leanne found herself laughing with Cole over stories she hadn't told anyone in years, not even Jesse. He delighted with her as she spoke about her family in happier times and listened thoughtfully as she told him about her life since the accident, but she never once saw pity in his eyes. It had been a long time since she'd been able to talk to anyone without having to contend with the inevitable burden of their sympathy. The less Cole seemed to feel sorry for her, the safer she felt opening up to him.

As the night wore on the bar grew more crowded and the music seemed to get louder, enticing her to lean in closer and closer to Cole in order to be heard over the din. All the while she allowed him to generously refill her glass whenever it got low, willing the alochol to give her the courage for what she already knew she wanted to do.

“What?” Cole asked, after a lull in the conversation in which Leanne had been staring at him with a particularly thoughtful expression.

“You never answered my question.”

“Sorry, I guess I didn't hear,” he said apologetically, looking around. “It is getting kind of loud in here.” He leaned in, offering her his ear.

Leanne inched closer, placing one hand on his shoulder to steady herself as she scooted toward the edge of her bar stool. “When you first asked me out,” she clarified. “I asked you why you were interested. You never gave me an answer. A smart-ass remark, yes, but not an answer. So what is it, Dr. Guthrie? Why are you interested in me?”

She sat back and waited as he contemplated the question. It was perhaps the saddest one he'd ever heard.

“You're a beautiful woman, Leanne,” he said finally. “I won't pretend that didn't catch my attention. But the truth is, you fascinate me. Even before I heard the rumors about you, or found out about your past. You're a brilliant doctor—probably one of the most talented I've ever worked with. You see things that other people miss. And even though you seem to be trying your damnedest to shut yourself off from everyone around you, you still manage to connect with your patients. People come to you at their most vulnerable and you can be with them in the moment every time, even after what you've been through. And I just thought... maybe there's still some part of you that's actually looking for that connection.”

Leanne took another sip of wine, letting his words slip through the buzzing in her head. She hadn't been expecting that. Most of the men who'd hit on her since the accident had seen her as a challenge to be conquered or a damsel to be rescued. None of them had quite seen  _ her _ . Until, perhaps, now.

Normally she'd have some witty remark all ready to go, but this time she was coming up empty. Instead she looked up at him and said the first thing that came to mind: “Do you want to get out of here?”

Twenty minutes later they were crashing against the door to Leanne's apartment as she dug blindly through her purse for the keys, unwilling to stop exploring Cole's mouth with her own long enough to look. They broke contact just long enough for her to open the door and turn on the light before his hands were on her again, roaming over her dress and through her hair. She tossed her purse on the couch and began leading him toward the bedroom.

“Leanne.”

She spun around sharply as Cole suddenly came to a complete stop. “What? What's wrong?”

“Nothing,” he assured her, punctuating the sentence with a kiss. “Not a damn thing. I just... are you sure you want to do this? Because we can slow down, if you need to. I understand.”

“No,” she said, busying herself with marking a trail of small kisses across his collarbone.

Cole tensed, letting his arms fall to his sides. “No, you don't want to do this?”

Leanne rolled her eyes, grabbing his hands and placing them back onto her waist where they'd been a moment ago. “No, I don't want you to stop.” And she didn't. She finally understood what Jesse had been trying to tell her. She was alive—and for the first time in years, she felt like it.

She wrapped her own arms around his neck, pulling him closer; he had to stoop down to cover her mouth with his, but still she wanted more. They stumbled down the hallway, neither willing to let go of the other.

Once inside the bedroom, Leanne took control, pushing Cole gently down onto the bed. He complied willingly, letting her take her time. She relieved him first of his sport jacket and then of his tie before carefully undoing the buttons of his dress shirt, pushing it gently off of his shoulders to reveal the chiseled body underneath. But when it came time for him to return the favor, he started to unzip her dress and she suddenly turned away.

“Hey,” he said. “What's wrong? Leanne?”

She shrugged, embarrassed. “I'm just a little nervous, I guess,” she admitted.

He reached up, stroking her cheek with his thumb. “You're nervous? It's just me, Leanne. You've kicked my ass around the ER more times than I can count. What do you have to be nervous about?”

She let out a small laugh, conceding his point. “ You were right when you said i t's been a long time since I've let anyone see me this way,” she said quietly. “ You were an ass, but you were right.”

“I shouldn't have said that,” he admitted. “I'm sorry. When I'm scared I try to act confident to make up for it, and sometimes I miss the mark and land at patronizing instead. And I have to tell you, nothing has scared me in a very long time as much as asking you out did.” He took her hand, gently guiding her onto his lap. She relaxed into him as he gently kissed her temple. “I told you before that you're a beautiful woman, Leanne,” he reminded her, moving slowly down to her neck. “I don't think you understand just how beautiful.” His lips brushed against her skin as he spoke, the wine on his breath washing over her with every word. “Will you let me show you?”

Leanne nodded, and reached back to finish unzipping the dress herself. She stood, letting it fall to the floor.

Cole kept his word. That night, he made her feel more beautiful than anyone had in years.


End file.
